The present invention concerns a clothes washer having a shoe cleaning device.
A pulsation type agitator is typically mounted on the bottom of the washing tub, of a clothes washer enabling laundry to be agitated in alternative directions.
A Prior art washer having an agitator modified for improving the efficiency of washing is illustrated in FIG. 4. The washer comprises a water container 11 enclosed in a housing 10 for containing water, a washing basket 12 rotatably mounted in the water container 11, and an agitator 130 including a blade member 13 having a plurality of blades mounted on the bottom of the washing basket 12 and rotated in alternate directions. Mounted beneath the water container 11 are a motor 14 and a power transfer device 15 to rotate the agitator 130 and the washing basket 12. The power of the motor 14 is transferred through the shaft 17 of the power transfer device 15 to the agitator 1 and the washing basket 12. Also provided below the water container 11 is a discharge hose 16 for discharging the waste water out from the housing 10.
The agitator 130 includes the blade member 13 serving as a washboard, a member 31 rotating simultaneously with the rotating blade member 13, and a reciprocating member 41 moving in an up-and-down direction during rotation of the rotating member 31.
The agitator 130 has been already illustrated in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/630,328, therefore, a detailed description of the agitator will be omitted.
In operation, cloths are put into the washing basket 12 and water into the water container 11, and then the motor 14 is supplied with power to be rotated. The force of the motor 14 is changed to a suitable washing speed by the power transfer device 15. Thus, the agitator 130 is rotated in an alternate manner so as to wash laundry in a water stream generated by the agitator 130. The water flow can cause serious twisting or entangling of the clothes, but the vertically reciprocating member 41 moves up and down to disturb the water flow, thus preventing clothes in the washer from twisting or entangling.
However, the conventional washer can not develop enough effect of washing for cleaning shoes. Normally, shoes are washed by hand or a brush. However, when washing shoes using a conventional washer, the cleaning condition is poor compared to using a conventional brush, because shoes are cleaned only by simple friction between water or the inner wall of a washing basket and the shoes.